Semi-LASER localized dynamic 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy in exercising muscle at ultra-high magnetic field.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) can benefit from increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of high magnetic fields. In this work, the SNR gain of dynamic 31P MRS at 7 T was invested in temporal and spatial resolution. Using conventional slice selective excitation combined with localization by adiabatic selective refocusing (semi-LASER) with short echo time (TE = 23 ms), phosphocreatine quantification in a 38 mL voxel inside a single exercising muscle becomes possible from single acquisitions, with SNR = 42 ± 4 in resting human medial gastrocnemius. The method was used to quantify the phosphocreatine time course during 5 min of plantar flexion exercise and recovery with a temporal resolution of 6 s (the chosen repetition time for moderate T1 saturation). Quantification of inorganic phosphate and pH required accumulation of consecutively acquired spectra when (resting) Pi concentrations were low. The localization performance was excellent while keeping the chemical shift displacement acceptably small. The SNR and spectral line widths with and without localization were compared between 3T and 7 T systems in phantoms and in vivo. The results demonstrate that increased sensitivity of ultra-high field can be used to dynamically acquire metabolic information from a clearly defined region in a single exercising muscle while reaching a temporal resolution previously available with MRS in non-localizing studies only. The method may improve the interpretation of dynamic muscle MRS data.